American Owned Car Makers Show European Flair at Detroit Auto
Show

Detroit January 12, 2010; The AIADA newsletter reported that after three decades of looking to Asia for automotive ideas and
integrity, the American market is pirouetting toward Europe for
inspiration.

According to USA Today, the about-face is driven by Europe's
emphasis on smaller vehicles powered by smaller engines that emit little
yet make big power. The cars also often manage to combine refinement and
driving fun.

Automakers believe such a vehicle formula now will appeal to a
profit-generating number of U.S. car buyers. Examples of such coming models
are seen throughout Detroit's Cobo Center at the North American
International Auto Show.

"Europe is five years — I don't want to say
ahead of us, but every car you see" at big European auto shows trumpets low
greenhouse-gas emissions, often more boldly than horsepower or price, says
John Krafcik, CEO of Hyundai Motor America.

But perhaps no company is so
committed to a salute to Europe as Ford Motor. For decades at its European
headquarters on Henry Ford Street in Cologne, Ford has designed and
developed models that have been rated highly by critics, valued by buyers,
embraced by driving enthusiasts — and not sold in the U.S.

Click here
for a gallery of European design-inspired vehicles at the Detroit auto
show.

For full coverage of Europe’s influence on vehicle design and
engineering, Click Here.

The following titles and media identifications are trademarks
owned by The Auto Channel, LLC and have been in continuous use
since 1987: The Auto Channel, Auto Channel and TACH all have
been in continuous use world wide since 1987, in Print, TV,
Radio, Home Video, Newsletters, On-line, and other interactive
media; all rights are reserved and infringement will be acted
upon with force.